Leopard wrasse sandbed

[Pete polyp]

So im getting a leopard wrasse soon and I only have a 1" sandbed of reef flake. Should I put a Tupperware filled with sand in there for a wrasse den or will the 1" be ok? What size grain of sand do these guys prefer? Any tricks to getting them to eat frozen? @reefsquad

 

[Oscaror]

*[HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG]
We are a hashtag

 

[Humblefish]

I'm not a wrasse expert, but I'd be worried about him hitting bottom and knocking himself out with only 1" of sand. They seem to dart into the sand pretty aggressively sometimes.

 

[Pete polyp]

*[HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG]
We are a hashtag

 

[Oscaror]

I consider myself a wrasse expert as I have owned a whole 3 wrasses, one of which we had to return to the store b/c our sixline was attacking it, so I could say I know what I'm doing.

If your leopard wrasses gets scared it will want to dive into the sand bed for safety, it could injure its nose if it tried to dive in down into the sand, and it won't know to go into the container of sand.

 

[Pete polyp]

I'm not a wrasse expert, but I'd be worried about him hitting bottom and knocking himself out with only 1" of sand. They seem to dart into the sand pretty aggressively sometimes.

This is what I was kinda thinking also. I guess I will put a Tupperware in there for it.

 

[Pete polyp]

I consider myself a wrasse expert as I have owned a whole 3 wrasses, one of which we had to return to the store b/c our sixline was attacking it, so I could say I know what I'm doing.

If your leopard wrasses gets scared it will want to dive into the sand bed for safety, it could injure its nose if it tried to dive in down into the sand, and it won't know to go into the container of sand.

Well that stinks

 

[Oscaror]

Well that stinks

Hey at least because of this you didn't kill a leaopard wrasse , like my sixline almost did :mad:

 

[Oscaror]

Okay but when u don't get help don't blame us for not getting a notification

 

[Pete polyp]

Looks like I need to add a couple bags of sand to the tank then

 

[Humblefish]

Just add more sand...

 

[Pete polyp]

Just add more sand...

Yep

 

[Oscaror]

Looks like I need to add a couple bags of sand to the tank then

Worth

 

[Shep]

@evolved is the wrasse expert of R2R, he will know for sure

 

[eatbreakfast]

As long as the wrasse can cover it's body it will be fine. 1" is on the low side but doable, usually sand isn't perfectly level, the wrasse will find the deeper spots. Though if you are adding sand, that won't be a problem either.

 

[4FordFamily]

I would do 2", personally

 

[Pete polyp]

As long as the wrasse can cover it's body it will be fine. 1" is on the low side but doable, usually sand isn't perfectly level, the wrasse will find the deeper spots. Though if you are adding sand, that won't be a problem either.

This is the perfect answer because it was actually what I was thinking. But in the other hand I have seen them dive into the sand before and was afraid it would hit the bottom of the tank. Now it's just a matter on how well the one I get ships.

 

[Keepswiming]

Wrasses find Sand bed containers just fine. I had one in my qt and all the wrasses found it after a couple of hours. Once they know where it is they will continue to go back to that spot for bedtime or when they are frightened. With that being said, who wants a container in their display...
I would add some sand but as long as the wrasses can fully cover their body they will be ok. The problem is they throw sand around and with one inch only you will get thin in spots. Also, they don't usually dive straight down, they go at an angle so they can shovel themselves in, so they shouldn't damage their nose really. Finer grain sand is what most go for with wrasses because the crushed coral doesn't look comfy

The trick to getting them to eat is finding a healthy specimen and throwing every frozen food you can get your hands on at him until one sticks. Good luck! I have another leopard coming tomorrow and will be doing the same thing.

 

[Pete polyp]

Wrasses find Sand bed containers just fine. I had one in my qt and all the wrasses found it after a couple of hours. Once they know where it is they will continue to go back to that spot for bedtime or when they are frightened. With that being said, who wants a container in their display...
I would add some sand but as long as the wrasses can fully cover their body they will be ok. The problem is they throw sand around and with one inch only you will get thin in spots. Also, they don't usually dive straight down, they go at an angle so they can shovel themselves in, so they shouldn't damage their nose really. Finer grain sand is what most go for with wrasses because the crushed coral doesn't look comfy

The trick to getting them to eat is finding a healthy specimen and throwing every frozen food you can get your hands on at him until one sticks. Good luck! I have another leopard coming tomorrow and will be doing the same thing.

I'm going to be adding some more sand and should end up around 2" so I think it will be happy. I feed rods original and if it can't find something in that stuff to eat then there's probably no hope lol. My tank has a large breeding population of tiny snails and I'm sure it will get plenty to eat. Do you think it will also go after chiton? I have many of those too and would rather keep those, but if it goes after them oh well.

 

[evolved]

As long as the wrasse can cover it's body it will be fine. 1" is on the low side but doable, usually sand isn't perfectly level, the wrasse will find the deeper spots.

Yes, yes, and yes.

I only have about an 1" in my tank. The thin spots are a 1/4" and the deep spots end up around 1.5", and it's those places they end up using.